Location: Beaver Island, Peine Township, Manitou, Michigan

Surname/tag: Bonner, Boyle, Gallagher, Golicher, Galiger, McColly, McCarley, McConley, McAuly, McCauley, O_Donnell, McDonnough, Malloy
This Free-space Page is dedicated to the unique immigration story of the early settlers of Beaver Island, Manitou County, Michigan.[1] It is a work in progress.
Introduction; The tenacity and perseverance of the early settlers of Beaver Island is not unlike the immigration stories of people of other country origins. Whether escaping tyranny or voluntarily seeking a better life ... devotion to family, religion and ethnic culture, are at the core of immigrants' contribution to the society they assimilate.
What is unique about the Beaver Island immigration story is that the early settlers were a displaced island community from Arain Mor Island, County Donegal, Ireland [2] who against insurmountable odds reunited extended families and neighbors, scattered across Canada and the United States, to re-create their former self-sufficient island community. [3]
The inhabitants of Arain Mor Island, County Donegal, Ireland;[4] were forcibly evicted from their homes and emigrated to the Americas, by their English landlord, John Charley, in the Spring of 1851. They disembarked Donegal, Ireland 15 May 1851, aboard two un-seaworthy "Coffin" ships: the "Ann" and the "Countess of Arran". The journey across the Atlantic took about six (6) weeks. Both ships arrived Grosse Isle, Quebec, Canada, 5 June 1851. A total of two hundred seventy six (276) passengers: Eighty one (81) passengers aboard the Ann and one hundred and sixty (160) passengers aboard the The "Countess of Arran" survived the journey. The Countess of Arran shipwrecked with all on board lost at sea on her return voyage.
Of the 276 who survived the journey, one hundred twelve (112) mostly, able-bodied men who were sent to the railroad work at Melbourne eastern townships; remained in Canada. The remaining one hundred sixty four (164), consisting of the elderly and infirm, and helpless women and children, were assisted to proceed to the United States. [5]
Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arranmore Oileáin Árainn Mhór (English name: Arranmore) is an island off the west coast of County Donegal, Ireland. Arranmore is the largest inhabited island of County Donegal, with a population of 514 in 2011, down from 528 in 2006, 543 in 2002, and over 600 in 1996. The island is part of the Donegal Gaeltacht.
It is also known in English as Aran Island (not to be confused with the Aran Islands off Galway Bay or the Scottish Isle of Arran). In Irish the island was traditionally called Árainn; the adjective mór (large) was added fairly recently. It was also sometimes called in Irish Árainn Uí Dhomhnaill, meaning the 'Aran of the O'Donnells'.
Sources
- 1860 Census
- 1870 Census
- 1880 Census
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